Dessert Company Moving To City

June 15, 2007|By MONICA POLANCO; Courant Staff Writer

NEW BRITAIN — The common council on Wednesday voted to sell 263 Myrtle St. and 285 Myrtle St. to Centerplan Development Co. LLC for $252,000.

The council voted 13-0 to approve the sale, which will pave the way for a new, 130,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for Celebration Foods, the company that produces Carvel ice cream cakes and other desserts.

Celebration Foods, whose peak season is from April to September, must open next spring in order to meet public demand, Stewart said.

Centerplan will hire the Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. to build the roughly $16.3 million facility on land that once housed the old Fafnir Bearing Co. factory. Centerplan will rent the facility to Celebration Foods, which is expected to hire 225 people and move its 40 corporate jobs in Rocky Hill to New Britain.

The city's new commercial resident is expected to generate more than $500,000 in real and personal property taxes to the city.

In other news, the council approved a $2.7 million bond authorization to improve the park on Willow Street by a vote of 11-1. The money will be used to add a variety of features, including an athletic field, bocce courts and two basketball courts.

Adam Platosz said he voted against the proposal because the city is paying about $10.7 million in bonding interest in the current budget.

``It's easy to borrow, but we have to stop and pay for this stuff,'' Platosz said Thursday.

Once construction is complete, Willow Street will no longer offer full access to traffic and will end in a cul-de-sac. North Street will no longer provide access into Willow Street. The park is expected to open next fall.

``I think it'll be a highly used park,'' said Michael Trueworthy, the council's Democratic majority leader. ``It's something the neighborhood has wanted for a long time, and it's nice to see it finally come to fruition.''